Federal judge orders Seaside Library to pay $10,500 penalty for failing to allow religious meeting

Abstract

The Seaside Public Library was ordered by a federal court judge to pay a $10,500 penalty for denying community room access for a meeting that included religious content. A lawsuit was filed by the Florida-based nonprofit Library Counsel* on behalf of an Enterprise, Oregon man claiming that the library’s meeting room policy violated constitutional rights to free speech and equal protection. After the federal court ruling, the library board updated the policy manual and removed the prohibition on using library rooms for meetings with religious content. *Liberty Counsel misprinted as "Library Counsel"